Each election day, after casting their votes, hundreds of women head to Susan B. Anthony's final resting place at Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester, N.Y., to affix their "I Voted" stickers to her headstone. It's a tradition that dates back over a decade and honors the diligence and sacrifice of Anthony, a prominent advocate in the women's suffrage movement and a major force in the fight for a woman's right to vote. Her grave marker has inspired such a massive pilgrimage, in fact, that the cemetery has covered it with plastic to protect the historical landmark.
In 1872, Anthony was arrested. Her crime? Illegally voting, along with 14 other women, in the presidential race between Ulysses S. Grant and Horace Greely. Because of her renown, Anthony was singled out for prosecution. She was tried, convicted, and fined $100 plus court costs. She would later call it "the greatest judicial outrage history has ever recorded."
News of Anthony's arrest made national headlines and generated publicity that she harnessed to call attention to her cause. Prior to her trial, she reportedly traveled extensively to promote women's suffrage, giving fiery speeches questioning whether it was a crime for U.S. citizens to vote.
When the 15th Amendment, the last of the three Reconstruction Amendments and the one that prohibits the federal government or states from denying a citizen's right to vote based on "race, color, or previous condition of servitude," was proposed in 1869, Anthony, along with fellow activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton and others, argued that it should be redrafted to include the word "sex."
Not everyone in the suffrage movement agreed, and the coalition splintered. In response, Stanton and Anthony formed the National Woman Suffrage Association. They campaigned in support of a revised 15th Amendment that included all women, in addition to Black men. But the amendment ended up passing in its original form.
Anthony would continue to press on, including taking up residence in Washington, D.C., when Congress was in session, eventually securing an annual Senate hearing on female suffrage. Support for women's voting rights was building as women pursued higher education and employment outside the home. And the competing suffrage groups ultimately united in 1890, placing Anthony and Stanton at the head of the new National American Woman Suffrage Association.
After leading the American women's suffrage movement for most of her adult life, Susan B. Anthony died in 1906, 14 years before the 19th Amendment, which recognizes the right of women to vote, was finally ratified on August 18, 1920.
At a speech to the annual suffrage convention shortly before her death, Anthony told the attendees, "Failure is impossible." And all those women who make their way to Anthony's grave to leave their mark continue to prove her right. They're answering the oft-asked "Why vote?" with a resounding "Because we can."
With the November 3 midterm election on the horizon, this is the ideal time for all voters to inform their voices. The Michigan Voter Information Center website offers resources for just that purpose, including instructions on how to register, methods and locations for voting, and what appears on the ballot for your specific area.
Voting:
A right so fundamental to our democracy and yet so often taken for granted. It is an opportunity to voice our conscience, our values, our hope for the future and for that of generations to come. But, throughout our history, there have been those whose voices were silenced — who fought, bled, and were imprisoned for the right to be heard via the ballot box. Women represent just one of those demographics.
September 24: Mail-in voting begins
October 5: Early voting starts
November 3: Election Day
